Apple A12 Bionic vs Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU). Specifications, performance, tests

Background information about the processors being compared, series, generation and market segment.

• Segment
  Mobile Mobile
• Family
  Apple A series Apple A series
• Generation
  12 15
• CPU group
  Apple A12/A12X/A12Z Apple A15
• Predecessor
  Apple A11 Bionic --
• Successor
  Apple A13 Bionic --

Basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base and turbo frequency, and cache size. These parameters indirectly tell about the speed of the processor, the higher they are the better.

• Frequency
  1.59 GHz 3.23 GHz
• Turbo (1 Core)
  2.49 GHz No turbo
• Turbo (6 Cores)
  2.49 GHz No turbo
• Hyperthreading
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)

Internal Graphics does not affect the performance of the CPU, performs the work of the graphics card in its absence or on mobile devices.

• GPU name
  Apple A12 Apple A15 (4 GPU Cores)
• GPU frequency
  1.59 GHz 0.60 GHz
• GPU (Turbo)
  2.49 GHz No turbo
• Execution units
  4 128
• Shader
  0 1024
• Max. GPU Memory
  4 GB 8 GB
• Max. displays
  1 3
• Generation
  9 12
• Technology
  7 nm 5 nm
• Release date
  Q3/2018 Q3/2021

Built-in codecs used to encode and decode content. Significantly speeds up the required operations.

• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• h264
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• VP9
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• VP8
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• AV1
  No No
• AVC
  Decode Decode
• VC-1
  Decode Decode
• JPEG
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) and Apple A12 Bionic. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• Memory type
  LPDDR4X-4266 LPDDR4X-4266
• Max. Memory
  16 GB 8 GB
• ECC
  No No
• Memory channels
  1 1

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Apple A12 Bionic and Apple A15 Bionic (4-GPU) to select a cooling system. Note, the TDP value refers to thermal watts, not electrical watts.

• TDP (PL1)
  6 W 8.5 W

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Apple A12 Bionic and Apple A12 Bionic, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Instruction set (ISA)
  x86-64 (64 bit) ARMv8-A64 (64 bit)
• Virtualization
  None None
• L2-Cache
  8.00 MB 16.00 MB
• Architecture
  A12 A15
• Technology
  7 nm 5 nm
• Socket
  N/A N/A
• Release date
  Q3/2018 Q3/2021